How to Verify a Local Business Page on Google+

Google has made many upgrades to its social media listings for companies over the years. The current program for brands is Google My Business, and it’s highly beneficial for a firm to join up with this service, whether or not Google+ is a strong element of your social media strategy.

The local page option within this service is meant for businesses that either operate from a brick and mortar storefront or ones that work across a specific service area. When you create a local page, you can take just a few steps to become verified on the network. This is an important step to making the most of your local page and all that Google has to offer businesses.

Why Google Local Verify?

For starters, verifying your local page will help the business to appear in searches across Google’s properties, from Maps to Search. Google will be able to use the information you provided in any local queries. Verification is also a must for making any changes to your page that you want to appear to your customers.

Verified pages can read and respond to the reviews left on the local page by customers. Engagement is a must on any social network, so having the opportunity to thank people for positive reviews or repair the effects of negative ones can make a big difference in your business’ reputation. Finally, local businesses that verify also can see data from Google about how people arrived at their page. This can be valuable information for understanding your customer base and further refining your online presence.

Verify By Postcard

This screen for verification options will automatically appear when you create a local page. If your page is already made, look for verification on the My Business dashboard.

The first option is to receive confirmation by postcard. If you select that option, you’ll see an image of the verification postcard with the name of your business and the address you supplied when creating the page. Double-check that the information is correct. You can add an optional contact name to the address in the text field below the image.

You’ll receive it in the mail after one to two weeks. Once you’ve gotten the postcard, go to the website listed (http://www.google.com/local/verify) and log in with the same account you used to request the code. Go to the My Business dashboard to complete your verification. Enter the code and you’ll be finished.

Verify By Phone

If you choose not to verify by postcard, your other option is to receive the code by phone. If you pick that option, make sure you’re able to directly answer the number you provided as your business’ contact point.

Click ‘Verify by phone’ from the menu to have Google send an automated message with your verification code to your business phone number. As with the postcard approach, enter the code from the message.

After you’ve entered the code, you’ll see a screen asking you to review your information and make any last-minute changes if needed. Then click ‘Done editing’ and you’ll be finished.

Add a Verified Website

The last step to having a fully verified local page is to connect your website with your Google local page. Log in to Google My Business as the page you want to edit. Click ‘Profile’ on the left-hand navigation menu, then click the ‘Link website’ button next to the URL of your company.

If your site is already part of the Webmaster Tools program, then Google will ask if you want to send the webmaster a request to approve the link through that system. You’ll receive an email when the approval is granted and your website will appear with a checkmark on your profile.

The other way to verify your website is with direct linking. This requires adding a small amount of code to the site that’s listed as the primary link in the ‘About’ section of your page. For a full explanation of the code to use, visit Google’s support page on the topic.

As with having a verified page, verifying your website can offer your business some extra benefits with Google’s services. Confirming that information can help the search engine to supply better results in queries.

Hi. I am having trouble verifying my Google business page. I already received my verification code through mail so I went to my page to verify it. After clicking the "verify" button, I can't see where should I enter the code. I am directed to the map and the options given were 1. Continue and verify later, and 2. Mail me my code. What seems to be the problem here? Can someone help me resolve this. Thank you very much.

@JazzAgeArtDeco@rswdanalytics I just found out the answer to this problem this morning. You have to resend the code and don't forget to put a name on it before the "enter code" button appears on your page. Hopefully, the code hasn't expired yet when you try this one. Else, you'll wait for another two to four weeks for your code to arrive. Hope this could help you.

@rswdanalytics@JazzAgeArtDeco Hi and thankyou for your response - much apprecited - but I don't follow you...... I only have the "verify" button which then gives me the options to do it later or mail the card again - have you found another button?

What I believe has happened is although you have created the Google Business page and requested the Verification code correctly, you have made edits to the page while waiting for the code to arrive, thereby VOIDING your initial verification request. This is not well documented on Google's behalf and is leaving many people confused to why this Blue Box to Verify is not showing up. They should simply state "Warning - Once you make a request to verify, DO NOT make any Alterations to your Google+ Page until you have entered in your verification code that you will receive in the mail"

@JazzAgeArtDeco@rswdanalytics I chose to mail the card again and indicated a name to whom shall the card be addressed. After resending it, I tried clicking the verify button then the verification code box showed. I entered the verification code and the verification was successful. But, you can also look at Google me this' answer below to get more guided in case you will use Google business for another business in the future.

Thank you Darryl for your suggestion. But I still can't verified my business because the postcard never arrive to me. by the way, my business already appears on google map, and then I want to make my googlebusiness, why the phone verification still unavailable, please help Daryyl., was there anythng I missed?

@Lando21 It should be possible to try the phone verification method as well. If you have yet to receive, I suggest following the steps outlined by Google themselves: http://bit.ly/1GLTUH2. Hoping that helps!

@hendra Happy to help. To choose phone verification, please follow these steps: click ‘Verify by phone’ from the menu to have Google send an automated message with your verification code to your business phone number. As with the postcard approach, enter the code from the message. After you’ve entered the code, you’ll see a screen asking you to review your information and make any last-minute changes if needed. Then click ‘Done editing’ and you’ll be finished.

@Narendra Hi there. The steps to choose phone verification is as follows: click ‘Verify by phone’ from the menu to have Google send an automated message with your verification code to your business phone number. As with the postcard approach, enter the code from the message. After you’ve entered the code, you’ll see a screen asking you to review your information and make any last-minute changes if needed. Then click ‘Done editing’ and you’ll be finished. I hope this helps!